Trying New Things Might Be Good: Justified?

I'm kind of excited about Justified which premiers next month on FX -- March 16 to be exact.  And is it just me or is FX becoming the go-to network for reliably high-quality programming?  It's like the HBO of 2002 without the f-bombs.  From the official website, the premise of the show is:

Justified is the story of Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a true-blue hero and something of a throwback, given to wearing a Stetson and cowboy boots, carrying his sidearm in a hip holster – a weapon he only draws when he has to, and when he does, he shoots to kill, because, as he sees it, that’s the purpose of a gun.  Raylan was born and reared in the hill country of eastern Kentucky.   It was in Harlan where he played ball, chased girls and dug coal.  And it was from Harlan, at age 19, that he ran, determined to become a U.S. Marshal.  Now, years later, after shooting a gun thug in a Miami hotel and thereby incurring the wrath of his Marshals Service superiors, Raylan has been sent in punishment (and by fate?) to the one place to which he vowed he would never return – Kentucky.      

Anyways... there are several reasons to be excited about Justified.  It's got some serious crime fiction roots.  Justified is based on Elmore Leonard's character Raylan Givens who appears in short stories, notably "Fire in the Hole."  Living under a rock?  Haven't read any of Leonard's books or short stories?  Well then certainly you must have seen 3:10 to Yuma, Get Shorty, or Out of Sight.      

Still not excited?  Take a look at a clip

It's also got one helluva promising cast.  Specifically, Timothy Olyphant who plays Givens. You might recognize him from Damages, Deadwood, or one of my most favorite movies of all time... Go.  (Go lives on in the Dee household pop culture references.  When reading the Sunday paper, either the LSH or I will say "And it's always there, in the lower right hand corner, just waiting to suck," referring to the Family Circus.  It's a direct line from the film and Olyphant's character was the one who said it.)  Plus the characters that Olyphant tends to play have a wry, tough, wicked, sexiness about them that I just kind of dig.  


Also-also!  It's set in the South, ya'll.  Harlan County, Kentucky to be exact.  Ever hear of Harlan County, USA?  You know, the documentary where coal miners went on strike against Duke Power in the 1970s and it nearly resulted in a war.  It's an interesting real-life setting with lots of grit.  I have a feeling it might evoke the Southern Gothic in a very interesting way.          


Yeah, I'm in.  Will you be watching?